5 takeaways from Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson’s media session

4. How much of Johnson’s offense has been installed so far?

Johnson didn’t put a percentage on it, but said a good foundation has been laid. He and the offensive coaches chart all the mental mistakes throughout the course of practice. As more plays are installed, naturally the more mental mistakes there are. There’s a balance that has to go on there, according to Johnson. He doesn’t want to put too much on the players’ plates where the mental mistakes ramp up. Once the mental mistakes go down, that’s Johnson’s cue to push a little bit more on them.

This time of year isn’t all about just learning scheme, either. The coaches are also evaluating players and what they can potentially do in this offense. There has to be a good balance of scheme instillation and evaluation, and that’s where Johnson said this offense is right now.

5. Special. That’s the word Johnson used to describe second-year wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. Johnson said St. Brown is on a mission right now to improve on the things that he and St. Brown identified in the spring as areas where he could grow and improve his game. One of those areas of improvement was being a better run-after-catch threat. Johnson said he could really see St. Brown has taken that aspect of improving his game to heart and it’s translating to the practice field.